


Gifts of the New Moon

by Tikor



Series: Castebook: No Moon [7]
Category: Exalted
Genre: Gen, Lunars, Worldbuilding, sorcery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-10
Updated: 2018-03-14
Packaged: 2019-03-29 11:30:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 13,584
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13926246
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tikor/pseuds/Tikor
Summary: The weave of motes aided by more than will.





	1. Artifacts and Evocations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Artifacts of personal and historical importance.

**Artifacts and Evocations**  
No Moons have the gifts and the inclination to see into the soul of many things. Items that themselves have awakened souls are well within their bailiwick. While some Artificers of the No Moons scrape together temporary laboratories and quest in the Wyld for exotic materials, just as many are simply heirs to an unbroken line of ownership of wondrous objects just like they are heirs to the Oral History. No shortage of stories in the Oral History mention or are themselves about the Artifacts of old, so even if Artifacts are lost for a time, the No Moons are best equipped to put the pieces together and rediscover them. Unlike more common tools, Artifacts have an uncanny ability to resist the Wyld, and are much harder to justify jettisoning due to the time needed to replace them. When the Lunars came back into Creation from their exile a disproportionate amount of their belongings were such items of power. 

**Two Worlds Drum, Moonsilver Tool**  
Artifact 2  
Fighting on the edge of the world where reality is fluid and foes can often change form at a whim gives even well-disciplined troops pause. Would you slay your own sister in arms if she started acting odd on the march? What if a Fae took her soul’s heart in the night, or worse, is being impersonated by those foul beings who can change their shape by crossing through Nirakara?

Lunars themselves have several ways around this dilemma, and are sometimes themselves the shapeshifters causing mortals to worry. But the Two Worlds Drum allows their followers and armies to see beyond what their eyes tell them, and see the souls of beings they encounter with their own spirits. This great drum is hollowed out from the trunk of an Orichalcum-leafed tree, and has a moonsilver skin drawn across it that the player strikes with the severed stone limbs of a calcified Fair Folk: altogether a very heavy instrument around 8 feet across. Carrying the drum by hand is a Strength 5+ Feat of Strength at 6 successes. Fixing some sort of wheel set to the bottom reduces this to a Strength 3+ Feat of Strength at 3 successes, but most mundane wheels shatter apart in the proximity to the drum’s resonant beats when it is used. Each additional character beyond the first who meets the Strength minimum helping to move the drum counts for 1 automatic success.

When the Two Worlds Drum is struck, a being’s true form resonates in the spirit world slightly, blurring into the real world. For most beings, this is just a slight blurring around the edges of their form, as their current and true forms are the same. But for anything whose spirit does not match their body, such as dematerialized spirits with no body at all, or being taking a shape that is not its own, like any Fair Folk in Creation, or a Lunar not in a true form, their true self is revealed with each beat of the drum. This effect costs 5 committed motes to sustain for a scene. Doing so occupies two of the drummer’s hands, locks them within arm’s reach of the drum, and incurs flurry penalties for any other action they take. A drummer who ceases to drum, but starts back up again, needs to pay the 5 mote cost again. The effect spreads as far as the sound of the drum, usually to extreme range. 

Effectively, this eliminates the need to take a blind-fighting penalty against dematerialized foes, and gives the drummer’s Essence in automatic successes against rolls to pierce the disguise for affected beings, which can be rolled at every beat of the drum for no repeated action penalty. A mortal army would still need blessed and salted weapons to battle spirits, or cold iron to strike at a Fair Folk’s soul beyond its current form, but they could at least see what they were attempting to strike at great benefit to effectiveness and morale. 

This Artifact has one Evocation:  
Evocation Name: Inner Drumbeat of the Second World  
Cost: 5m  
Minimums: Essence 1  
Type: Simple  
Keywords: Mute  
Duration: Scene  
Prerequisites: None

Humming a few drumbeats to herself, the Lunar can remember the rhythm from the last time she played the Two Worlds Drum. She can mentally hear her own beat, and gains its effects against creatures she can perceive with none of the limitations pounding a massive drum during battle incurs. The Lunar’s eyes shake in microsaccades, that can be detected with a Perception+Occult roll against the Lunar’s Tell difficulty. No other being in the scene gains the effect, unless they can see through the Lunar’s own senses, even if the Lunar sings or hums the drumbeat aloud. It takes moonsilver shaped into an Artifact to resonate outwards; the Lunar only has enough moonsilver in her soul for herself. 

**Prayer Conch, Moonsilver Tool**  
Artifact 2  
Gods can hear the prayers of their worshipers innately. They are sometimes swayed by well-composed or desperate pleas for aid, and nudge Fate in their supplicant’s favor. But hearing prayers day in and day out wears on a god’s attention and soul; most are ignored. Even when ignored, like the tide against the rocks, they leave their mark over time. Many a god has been markedly changed a few centuries after being given a new position as the constant prayers mould the god to their new domain. Exalted are deaf to prayer and unaffected, even by the greatest of Cults. But with the Prayer Conch, they can catch a glimpse of what a god’s inner cacophony is like for the small cost of 3 committed motes.

When in a particularly dense area of prayer - such as next to a god with a powerful Cult, or just in a particularly holy city, the Lunar may roll Perception+Occult to attempt to overheard a certain type of prayer. When she does so, she hears prayers whether she succeeds or not, in the original supplicant’s voice, verbatim, in real time. On a success she hears the type of prayer she is seeking. The search for specific prayers is more difficult the more detailed or out of the normal supplication patterns the prayer type requested. A prayer for good fortune would add no difficulty, as those are common, but a prayer to find a mate might be at +1 difficulty, as most are either too young or old to pray for that often, but those who do make up most of the slack. More esoteric prayers are yet harder to hear, such as a prayer to deliver a desperate victim from the murderer the pack is searching for would be at +3 difficulty, and a prayer to understand the third locative grammatical form of Old Realm’s proper nouns would be at +5 difficulty. It is also more or less likely when she is metaphysically ‘between’ the target of the prayer and the prayee. Prayers to the Lunar herself are the easiest to hear, at base difficulty; prayers to a nearby god would be +1 difficulty, prayers to a god not in the Lunar’s presence, but perhaps the city god of the city the Lunar is in would be at +2, while hearing the prayers of demons in Malfeas to other demons in Malfeas while still being in Creation would be +9 difficulty. 

The Lunar physically holds the Prayer Conch to her ear and listens - with its moonsilver coating, it can draw attention unless the Lunar succeeds at a Manipulation+Larceny roll at a bonus (such as being in the company of only a few people in poor light) or penalty (such as being in a crowded market at noon) to pass it off as not worth noting by passerby. 

The eavesdropping is entirely passive. Succeeding and failing leaves no detectable signal on the prayers themselves for their recipient to detect. Botches are a different story, of course. 

This Artifact has one Evocation:  
Evocation Name: Seashell Prayer Tides  
Cost: -  
Minimums: Essence 1  
Type: Permanent  
Keywords: None  
Duration: Permanent  
Prerequisites: None (Shell form)  
When the Lunar assumes a form with a shell and is attuned to the Prayer Conch, she hears prayers to herself without rolling, like a god would. Having learned the secrets of the Prayer Conch, the shells of her forms give the same glimpse into the metaphysically verbal traffic of prayer headed her direction. While no effects of this exposure are immediate enough to alter her personality on typical game timescales, elder Lunars who know this Charm and meet its requirements often take on the one-dimensionality of a Spirit’s personality and have been mistaken as Wyld-addicted in the past. On the plus side, she effectively gains the Contacts Merit equal to her Cult Merit if she takes a shell form regularly. 

The Lunar may repurchase this Evocation at Essence 3 to hear nearby prayer, not just ones to herself, at the difficulty penalties explained above. The Lunar may purchase the Charm again (also at Essence 3, with or without the first repurchase) to expand the limitation of shape to be any shape with bones that can resonate the prayer’s wavelengths, not just forms with shells. 

**Concept Collection Notation, Moonsilver Tool**  
Artifact 2  
This Artifact is a hollow moonsilver mesh ball roughly the size of a watermelon. Any given layer can be mundanely stretched or moved aside, but without attuning to the Artifact the inside cannot be revealed as other moonsilver mesh parts always seem to be between the investigative party and the center.

When attuned with 3 motes, the user may open and close the Artifact at will. The inside is roughly the size of a 10X10X10ft room if it were shaped like an egg, and can assume any temperature and humidity required to keep the contents maximally preserved, though living things still require food and waste expulsion. While inside they are immune to any environmental fury or powers that do not destroy the Artifact itself, such as the corroding effects of the Wyld. This is the least of its powers.

When taken to the Wyld the Concept Collection Notation can store esoteric things like gossamer, Graces, shapeless beings, Wyld beasts, sounds, lights, emotions, memories or even a small amount of time for flawless transport through a fixed realm such as Creation that would be dispersed or harmed by the lack of fluidity. Mostly this is useful for the creation of further Artifacts, but some Concept Collection Notations store things for purely sentimental value or as a future propitiation to a demon or spirit or Fair Folk.

This Artifact has no Evocations.

 **Infinite Resplendence Amulet, Moonsilver Tool**  
Artifact 4  
Where once these amulets were worn for fashion in the Celestial society of the First Age, in this fallen Second Age they are valued for their utility above their base ability to create any garment required of a user's situation. At least, most Lunars remind themselves of that after changing a few times in front of the mirror for the fun of it. Most bear symbols and signatures from artificers long since dead with meanings lost to the centuries.

Infinite Resplendence Amulets can with a thought clean, repair or weave out of pure Essence any outfit the wearer can conceive. She merely thinks of her new outfit, taps the amulet, which can also be a bracelet covering the entire forearm, a thigh band, or a crown, and her attire is transformed by an Obvious display of Essence. The clothing is noticeable to any Essence-sight as lacking its own reality; further, taking any of the clothing off shreds it to its component motes in another Obvious display, releasing any committed motes along with its demise.

Each transformation or conjuration of clothing costs 5 committed motes, on top of the 1 committed mote to attune to the amulet itself. When the clothes born of this amulet are changed or replaced by another set, the first commitment drops when the second activates - no two sets of clothing can exist from one amulet at the same time. While wearing clothing from a moonsilver Infinite Resplendence Amulet, the wearer benefits from 2 automatic successes to Larceny rolls involving clothing, 2 automatic successes to Stealth rolls that could be enhanced by clothing, 2 automatic successes to Resistance rolls resisting disease, and 2 natural soak (not armor soak). Other types of Infinite Resplendence Amulets have been theorized or in the case of Elders remembered, but the Lunars only have a few of the moonsilver variety in circulation among the Silver Pact.

 **The Jasmine Gems, Moonsilver Tool**  
Artifact 2 (each, Artifact 5 for the set of 5)  
The first is a carnelian in the perfect shape of a jasmine’s flower. The second is an azurite, hard and crystalline, but with a heart of moonsilver. The third is a clear crystal with a perfectly preserved jasmine flower blooming inside of it. The fourth is a jasmine-scented agate whose freshness never dilutes. The fifth is a peridot, subtly changing over the years, always matching the exact shape of Omphalos. Each gem grants Essence to its wielder at a rate of two per hour if one mote is attuned to the gem, or the gem can be used to power an Artifact that requires a minor Hearthstone. But their true power emerges when the five gems of jasmine are brought together into the energy of a Demesne. Then, Mishiko’s spirit is summoned.

Mishiko’s spirit is by default silent. Arranging the gems in patterns will cause Mishiko to speak in verse on this topic or that, each topic a single pattern, each pattern a single topic. The Lunars of the Crossroad society, who split these gems among them and gather when a new member is inducted to their faction, know how to arrange the stones such that Mishiko’s spirit recites poems that tell a would-be sorcerer what quests will result in their undergoing of Mishiko’s sorcerous initiation. The quests could range from mental puzzles able to be completed that same evening for a bright Lunar ready to become a sorcerer, to extravagant gestures that could take decades for an apprentice far from their sorcerous revelation. Mishiko might send a the student to all four corners of Creation as Bar-Izahd and Mishiko themselves journeyed or ask them to simply touch the four walls of the dwelling in which she is summoned. 

The gem’s final power takes the form of a divination ritual. The owner of any gem may make a Wits+Occult roll, success gives the owner of a gem knowledge of the direction and distance to every other gem. By passing a gem to a new member, each other gem owner will come to know them as a member of the Crossroads society in good standing. It is with tricks such as these that the Crossroads society can invisibly know one another no matter what forms they assume, and keep every other Lunar guessing just who is and who is not part of their web.

This artifact has no evocations, at least none that any arrangement of the gems have prompted Mishiko to reveal so far. 

If a character learns any circle of sorcery from Mishiko, use this Shaping ritual.

 _Mishiko’s Tutelage_  
You have been instructed on sorcery by Mishiko’s spirit, the daughter of the first Lunar sorcerer, Bar-Izahd. By completing her quests and solving the riddles of her rhyme, you came into or enhanced your power as a sorcerer. Mishiko is a sacred figure among the Silver Pact, granting you respect in their society, spread by the Lunars who were witness to Mishiko’s delivery of poems to guide your transition as a sorcerer.

Shaping Rituals  
Mishiko’s jasmine-spirit heritage sees and responds to the Essence in flowers of all kinds. When the sorcerer spends a scene in the presence of flowers, she may gain a single sorcerous mote, stackable up to a limit of her Occult. These motes last so long as she has a memory of the flower-laden scene, for most Exalted this means they are effectively indefinite absent memory-altering magic. Mishiko’s sorcerers are often also gardeners, surrounded by flowers in their normal course of life.

A fraction of Bar-Izahd’s loathing of demonkind has crept into Mishiko’s students’ practice of sorcery. Whenever the sorcerer initiates a spell that would harm or banish a demon, they gain their Essence in sorcerous motes immediately committed to that spell.

Finally, sorcerers of Mishiko’s lineage have a deep and abiding respect for the freedom of almost all life. They suffer a -1 penalty to any action that deprives a living being of its liberty, such as caging an animal or human or any instance of harm, even an enemy, with the exception of demons. Alternatively, they gain a +1 die or static value bonus (that counts as a Charm bonus) to any action enabling or exhorting another being to gain more freedom or to defend or utilize the freedom they already have. This almost always applies to parry actions the sorcerer makes via Defend Other.

Other Benefits  
Pup of Mishiko (Merit 1) - When attempting to convince a member of the Silver Pact of an occult fact, or to convince them of the occult consequences of their actions, or to inspire respect for the spirit world within them, the sorcerer gains double 9’s. If that Silver Pact member is also a member of the Crossroads Society, instead gain double 8’s. 

Jasmine Gem Resonance (Merit 2) - When attuned and possessing one or more Jasmine Gems, the sorcerer gains one automatic success per Jasmine Gem in their possession on the first shape sorcery roll she attempts for a spell or counterspell in a scene. 

Will to be Free (Merit 3) - When the sorcerer casts a spell that results in their freedom from some binding (such as Death of Obsidian Butterflies filleting a net that has them captured, or Mists of Eventide to put their captors to sleep as they slip away, or casting Rain of Doom to destroy something an Eclipse Oath has bound her to obliterate), they gain 1 point of Willpower in addition to any other benefits from casting successfully, even in Initiative Crash.

 **Gristlegrimm, Soulsteel Bonestrider**  
Artifact 5  
Gristlegrimm is a hollow collection of plated bone and rotting muscle, smelling like a ripe corpse that somehow stands erect. Where a head would be is instead a giant hole from its collarbones to its shoulderblades. It otherwise has the shape of a man, except for the soulsteel claws as long as knives that extend from between each knuckle on both hands. Closer inspection will reveal that the muscle connects via sinew to interior bones and that in the place of blood vessels, soulsteel wire infuses the entire abomination. Standing at eight feet tall, three feet wide, with arms fully four feet long and legs five, its hollow cavity can accommodate most riders with room to spare.

Perhaps even more disturbing than its static appearance, however, is when it walks of its own volition. With a thought from the attuned owner, it can be commanded to attack her enemies as easily as it can be mentally set to hauling heavy loads or dancing for her entertainment. It exhibits a servile personality when executing these actions, bowing and acknowledging its owner, executing them without fear or any concern for its own safety. It has only one Intimacy at the Defining level: Obey my master (principle).

Gristlegrimm requires 10 motes to attune, and provides the protection and penalties of a standard Warstrider (Arms of the Chosen page 141) as well as the offensive capabilities of artifact Razor Claws (Exalted 3e page 594). When worn or when autonomous, it can attempt Strength 10 feats of strength with 20 dice, can be targeted like a character with decisive attacks, and incurs a -1 penalty on any battlegroup with less than perfect morale that attempts a rout check due to Gristlegrimm or its attuner’s actions. When autonomous it has its own Initiative pool, a Parry of 2, an Evasion of 0, a withering attack of 11 dice / decisive attack of 6 dice (Razor Claws), a base damage of 20, overwhelming 3, a soak of 11, a hardness of 10, and -0X20, IncapacitatedX1 health levels. For any other action possible for Gristlegrimm it has a base of 4 dice, though some pools such as movement, dodging, and stealth suffer the -2 mobility penalty as if it were wearing heavy Artifact armor. Some impossible actions for Gristlegrimm include speaking (unless its owner knows sign language), reading (it navigates via an Essence sense), and attuning to other artifacts, Manses, or Demesnes. The armor understands every language its attuner understands. It does not have its own Essence pool or know any Charms, even its own Evocations.

Gristlegrimm is as complicated as a living thing with none of the real spark of life to maintain itself. It requires some way to stave off its inevitable decay or the loving care of a necromantic artificer to remain functional. Magic that normally revitalizes necromantic creations is too crude to repair the soulsteel wires and Essence running through this potent artifact, though it can provide preventative maintenance. Every month that it does not spend at least one day in a Resurrection Pit (Abyssals 2e pages 216-217) or is exposed to similarly potent reanimation magic it loses -0X3 lethal health levels. It does not heal naturally at all, and instead must be repaired to regain any lost health levels. Repairs are treated normally (Exalted 3e page 242-243) except that they additionally require at least Shadowlands Necromancy and substitute Medicine for the relevant Craft. The goal number is the number of -0 health levels the necromancer wishes to restore, unless the Incapacitated health level is filled, then it is a goal number of 30 (bashing, lethal and aggravated damage types are all treated equally). 

Currently, Gristlegrimm is owned and maintained by the Marked Wolf. She dons it when the Swords of Luna call upon her to repel or destroy a threat from the Wyld, but rarely uses it in Creation. She knows all of its Evocations.

Lunar Evocations:  
Evocation Name: Cannot Change the End  
Cost: 15m, 1wp  
Minimums: Essence 1  
Type: Simple  
Keywords: Obvious, Shaping  
Duration: Scene  
Prerequisite Evocations: None

When Cannot Change the End is activated, the Lunar’s tattoos extend in a flowing extrusion from the Lunar’s skin outward through the dead flesh of Gristlegrimm and settle in a recreation of the Lunar’s own tattoo pattern on the external bone of the dread machine. While so protected, Gristlegrimm gains the same shaping immunity granted by the moonsilver tattoos, that is complete immunity to any transformative effect that would target Gristlegrimm’s physical form. Its mind, however, is still as vulnerable to change as the Lunar’s. (see Lunars 2e page 28). 

Evocation Name: Cannot Stop the End  
Cost: 5m  
Minimums: Essence 2  
Type: Supplemental  
Keywords: Obvious  
Duration: Instant  
Prerequisite Evocations: Cannot Change the End

The grave-born strength of the bonestrider Gristlegrimm is capable of more than bashing the lithe Fae into forgotten dreams. It can also knock them out of the way whenever they would block its path. When attempting move actions (such as disengaging from an enemy described on Exalted 3e page 198), Gristlegrimm extends a long thin bone to trip enemies, or simply shoulders them out of the way with a shelf of bone that flies from its carapace then returns. Any attempt to thwart movement supplemented by Cannot Stop the End suffers a -5 penalty (such as contesting a disengage). 

Evocation Name: Cannot See the End  
Cost: 10m, 1wp  
Minimums: Essence 3  
Type: Simple  
Keywords: Obvious, Psyche  
Duration: Scene  
Prerequisite Evocations: Cannot Stop the End

Being a hulking, eight foot tall monstrosity of soulsteel, muscle, bone, and sinew would lead one to believe it would be easy to spot. But, that does not take into account the silence of the Shadowlands, the Labyrinth-born shadows, and the dead wind to which only the Void is downwind that Gristlegrimm can conjure. While Cannot See the End is active her owner negates the bonestrider’s native Stealth penalties and gains +2 automatic non-Charm successes to their Stealth rolls. Further, the first time Cannot See the End is activated in a scene it always counts as creating the necessary conditions for and automatically grants a roll to re-establish stealth on the same action, even if Gristlegrimm is in the brightest of light or the broadest of plains, as shadows are cast from the Essence flowing through it.


	2. Tattoo Artifacts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mystic marks with extra magic.

The art of weaving an Artifact into the Moonsilver Tattoos is highly prized among Lunars in general and No Moons in particular. Being forever entwined with such a device is seen as the easiest way to learn the depths of an Artifact’s Evocations. Some Artificers disagree, saying that any Evocation is as easy to learn as any other, tattooed or not, but many No Moons note those Lunars lack Moonsilver Tattoo Artifacts themselves, and would not be in a position to compare.

Below are sample Moonsilver Tattoo Artifacts, and the Lunars they are imprinted upon, for one does not come without the other.

 **Silver Lining of the Cloud Bear, Moonsilver Tattoo Artifact, 2**  
Written upon the skin of Po are the Clawspeak representations of ‘cloud’ and ‘wisp’ and ‘nothingness’. Despite these ephemeral words, they protect the Lunar from the Wyld as well as any other. They serve to grant them additional power, the power to walk among the spirits.

Po may, for motes equalling five times his permanent Essence (currently 10), cast off their material body, dematerializing into nothing as a simple action. While there, they sees the spirits who share his non-embodiment, they can knock on and pass through the doors of their sanctums, and they can speak back to him in ways he can perceive. Po uses this power to be a familiar presence in the life of spirits, making the first move of contact that heavenly law forbids them. As with the mortal world, most spirits are small, low in stature and ability like the mortals of Creation. But Po has also sat at court with powerful spirits, or met with them on their own terms to negotiate and to, frankly, be an oddity of entertainment to spice the endless eons of a god’s existence. 

Attunement costs motes equal to Po’s Essence (currently 1). Keeping the door open to transition their spirit becomes progressively harder as that spirit swells in size. That said, unlike many other Tattoo Artifacts, Po may release this commitment with minimal consequences, only losing the ability to perform dematerialization and the Evocations associated with Silver Lining of the Cloud Bear.

 **Lunar Evocations:**  
Evocation Name: Hurry to the Borrowed Home  
Cost: 5m, 1wp  
Minimums: Essence 1  
Type: Simple  
Keywords: Obvious  
Duration: Instant  
Prerequisite Evocations: None

Po may, when invited to stay at a spirit’s sanctum, teleport instantly to the home of the spirit that has extended any such invitation. Po rarely uses it except in times of great danger, as appearing with a pop inside even a friend’s home without warning can lead to awkward interruptions of the spirit’s private activities. Most spirits don’t know Po has this power, which has eased Po’s negotiations for entry to spirit sanctums. If such knowledge became widespread they would likely have a roadblock to negotiate around to gain such access.

Evocation Name: Sniff the Spirit Winds  
Cost: 10m  
Minimums: Essence 2  
Type: Simple  
Keywords: Mute  
Duration: Instant  
Prerequisite Evocations: Hurry to the Borrowed Home

With a few moments spent in concentration and clear nasal passages, Po may sniff that which a particular spirit could sense. Spirits, as tied to their natures or domains as they usually are, have knowledge of more esoteric things than what material particles fly upon the wind of Creation, gained by that connection. Examples include the ability to smell lust in the air like a neomah, smell honorable service like a jokun, or ill intent like a bloody hand. Practically, Po names a spirit, gives a small prayer to them and their nature or domain, then attempts to borrow their supernatural senses into said domain. Rolling Perception+Occult returns results equal to half the successes rounded up, though they are not guaranteed to be useful to the situation at hand, or even close in distance to Po’s current position should no closer, stronger examples exist. Further, like facial features or words, Po can be fooled by insincere attempts at the domain in question, such as a courtesan performing for their customer despite lacking the feelings her lustful actions imply, or a mole in an army only feigning loyal service as he feeds information to the enemy. When dramatically appropriate, the insincere target’s Guile must be exceeded by Po’s successes to not be fooled by such deceptions.

 **Moonsilver Memory Marks, Moonsilver Tattoo Artifact, 2**  
Lines trace So-Lu-Si’s chest, back, shoulders, abdomen and legs. Unlike many, her clawspeak symbols are very small, only readable on close inspection, and prone to change. Recorded within are all of So-Lu-Si’s memories, stories of her childhood in her tribe, journeys she has taken since her Second Breath, secrets both private and mundane as well as pieces to the little known true history of Creation. A side-effect of this external representation of self is that if So-Lu-Si ever drops the 5 mote commitment to Moonsilver Memory Marks, she becomes an amnesiac, incapable of recalling her past or forming new memories in the present. 

While attuned, So-Lu-Si may, simply by running a finger along the lines of her own Moonsilver Tattoos, relive and strengthen the memories of this Artifact. Effectively, this grants her Eidetic Memory (see Exalted 3e page 161). By spending a mote when someone else touches them, she may enlighten the power to relive her memories in another, even if they do not understand Clawspeak.

Often, So-Lu-Si uses Hide of the Cunning Hunter to hide these tattoos, both because she is a world-traveler who mingles in many non-Lunar cultures, and so that her mind is not inadvertently read by another Lunar or some other being with language-granting magic. But, when she confers with her mentor, Tamuz, she requests that he take a careful reading of her mental state to see if she has been nonjudicious in what she chooses to remember.

 **Lunar Evocation:**  
Evocation Name: Thought to Scattered Dust  
Cost: 1m, 1wp  
Minimums: Essence 2  
Type: Simple  
Keywords: Obvious  
Duration: Instant  
Prerequisite Evocations: None

So-Lu-Si may use Moonsilver Memory Marks to perform her own mental housekeeping. By activating this Charm and pinching part of her Moonsilver Tattoos, she may pluck out both the moonsilver and the associated memory. So-Lu-Si credits this Charm with supporting her cheery personality. To spread the unencumbered state of mind she enjoys, she has repurchased this Evocation, calling the deeper learning Pinch out the Badness, that allows her to do the same to another consenting being, without necessitating Moonsilver Tattoos or producing trace amounts of moonsilver.

What remains of So-Lu-Si’s memory is curated to help her become the woman she wants to be. Bad habits, worse lovers, trauma, and wasted time are erased in favor of hard-won lessons, important moments, clues to mysteries she has not yet solved, and effective practices. The result is a driven woman, one who has deep suspicions of anyone claiming to be a friend that she does not remember.


	3. Demesne, Manse, and Hearthstone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The architectural testaments to mystical understanding of the land.

Revering the land is easy for Lunars, a reflection of Luna’s love for Gaia. But when Luna’s moonlight filters into the Dragon-Blooded’s lands and Dragon Lines, the Princes of the Earth find an excuse to tear it the countryside apart reasserting elemental dominance. Few Lunar Manses and Demesnes survive in the current age - the Wyld is too chaotic to support even Luna’s Dragon Lines, and a Lunar staying anywhere in Creation too long is an invitation to the Wyld hunt. Rarely do Lunar’s have the opportunity to cultivate their patron’s Essence into the land, and even those of other types are hazardous to own outright due to the attention they draw from the watchers of Essence and Fate. Thus do only the most powerful Lunars stay in residence at their Manses year-round. Most other Lunars, even some elders who retain the habit, visit their places of power rarely and in secret. Creation is large enough that even these rare occurrences have a few examples.

 **Salt-pebble Lake, Water Demesne 2**  
Nestled in the countless islands of the Neck lies a speck of rock with a deep, clear and fresh lake impossibly at odds with sea level. It is claimed by the Tya, who keep a garrison there year-round to keep any from claiming its water. Though, the Tya who stay there have need of it no longer.

Any who drink from the pool for as many days in a row as they have lived years are changed forever. Their blood loses all of its salt - the intense purity of the lake’s water pulls it from them. Thus changed, they can safely drink sea-water; the salt of it passes through them harmlessly, and the water within nourishes them as if it were fresh.

The Demesne’s current owner, Swift Sails, Chosen of Luna, doesn’t know the exact process. She simply leaves any new crew there for a year, which covers more than any mortal lifetime. Once they’ve paid their dues guarding the fresh water and training for the sea, they’re taken aboard the many Tya ships that haul and protect cargo between the many Western Isles, and on its most seaworthy ships to and from the West to the rest of the Threshold and even the Blessed Isle. Though their Lunar captain is no longer welcome on that last, her agents make port there regularly. It is only a matter of time before her mercantile contacts piece together all the mystical boons Swift Sails has blessed her crew with and start to suspect it is more than favorable spirits and good luck. Salt-pebble Lake might contribute to that suspicion; having a crew with no need for fresh water means more cargo, and more cargo means more money, which Swift Sails has been quick to pocket away in stashes across the Neck. 

The fruit of the Manse lies at the bottom of the fresh lake. The lakebed is covered in spheres of salt the size of a woman’s fist. To most, touching one simply breaks it into powder that the water absorbs, then reforms to a salt-pebble sometime later. But, if care is taken to dive for and retrieve these salt-spheres by an attuned being, the Pearl Collecting Rite preserves them as they are pulled through so much fresh water. Once obtained, these salt spheres, when shaken, betray the secret of water within them sloshing around, but somehow not dissolving the salt. Mundanely, they can be shaved to season food or preserve it, to strike spirits with salted weapons, to keep away the dead with salt lines, to earn the envy of the salt gods, or their benefaction if sacrificed to them, just like normal salt. Magically, the salt-spheres do not function like normal Essence tokens, for they do not grant any additional Essence per hour to the user. The Essence is encased in salt and remains there. Instead, breaking one in a sorcerer’s hand while she begins to cast a spell grants +1 automatic success to every shape sorcerery roll for that spell, which counts as a Charm bonus.

Once taken from the pool, the salt spheres are vulnerable to water again - or perhaps they always were but the magic of the Demesne and the Soul Sea Meditation prevents that harm. If they are rained on, they will dissolve. If they are dropped into a bucket of water, they will dissolve. If handled too harshly, they will crack. If kept in a humid area for too long, the condensation from the air will bead upon them and wear them down (treat these damaged spheres as +1 die instead of +1 automatic success to shape sorcery actions when sacrificed). Only with extreme measures may they be preserved beyond a year, and beyond two the water inside finally finds a way through the salt and cracks it from within, rendering it of no more particular help with sorcery than mundane salt. 

**Seeking Point, Lunar Manse 3**  
Once an unassuming yet pretty piece of mortal handiwork on an unremarkable piece of land, Seeking point has been shaped through repeated ritual and decades of work into a Manse of minor power by its current owner, Tikor. Prayers to the Incara Luna have been said and re-said. The rainbowstone chateau’s roof has been made accessible and carved down to a slight dome. Young Lunars have visited and grown into their power, then sent back out into the world. Balconies have been added then used to provide night-vistas of the surrounding country to Lunars considering their own possibilities. Trials have been judged and moonsilver tattoos have been set. Once these actions drew Dragon Lines of Lunar Aspect into the Essence-nexus of a budding Demesne, a capstone was set and the process of Manse-building ensued.

This Manse always provides a clear view of the moon. When the moon is full, only that bright circle shines through clouds that swirl around it like an invisible column of glass. But, as the moon wanes, the sky that the Manse clears in search of the Silver Chair’s hidden portions widens. At the half moon, half of the sky is cleared of any clouds between the Manse and the portion of the sky defined by the moon’s straight line, providing an excellent view of the stars there for any diviners in residence like the Manse’s owner. In the new moon, the entire sky is visible. Seeking Point does not alter the weather above it during the day.

Magical conveniences of a distinctly Shogunate flavor also bless this Manse, making it easily habitable. Water from a nearby lake is pumped by tidal Essence and heated when the right levers are pulled, filling basins inside with hot and cold water. Drains take that water and other waste besides to hidden chambers that tap Lunar Dragon Lines to change the mixture into pure water again before depositing it back into the lake. By carefully bending the Lunar Essence flowing through the building away from the storeroom within the Manse, anything kept there will not rot, mold, or decay. Any vermin, insects or other wild animals that enter find themselves turned around; all paths lead to their harmless expulsion.

Seeking Point produces no Hearthstone. All of its energy is put to use, leaving none to coalesce into another miracle. But more elementary than that, the Manse endeavors to provide a place of rest and repose that is temporary - a base from which to gather strength for the one-way journey beyond, not a home to retire within or return to, no matter how much that might appeal to the attuner. A token, a tie, an anchor to itself does not fit its nature.

 **9th College of Sperimin / Mahalanka’s Throne, Solar Manse 5**  
One of a dozen of Raksi’s Manses, this is one of two that boasts still being in full working order. The problem lies not in the Manses themselves, but the Essence that feeds them. Even though each of the twelve were built of adamant fused to spell-reinforced stone sitting atop supports of jade-steel, the carefully strengthened and maintained Dragon Lines that once fed the Manses have dwindled without expert care. Raksi’s efforts to shape the landscape to capture the Daystar’s Essence have only been successful in these two cases. She doesn’t have the patience to beat back the jungle to all twelve. 

The 9th College of Sperimin, or as it is now known, Mahalanka’s Throne, was a library devoted to the study of Solar Circle Sorcery. It still is, though none have learned a spell there for centuries. An attuned user may ask the Manse to recite any passage from the Book of Three Circles or a hundred other tomes on the subject of the highest level of sorcery that once graced its halls. The Manse’s intelligence remembers the contents of every book that passes into its sphere of influence - the actual books of the library were only failsafes for power failure, or to be loaned out to those among the First Age’s wealthy who could pay the library’s fees. Solars, by Deliberative Law, were never charged.

Raksi detests the disembodied, polite, agendaless voice that calls itself ‘The Keeper’ with fiery passion. In her early days she would scream at it for hours over its memorized phrases and unchanging intonation. She has long since commanded it to silence, frustrated by the explanations that have never granted her understanding. Now only the books suffer her judgmental glares.

Outside of the animating intelligence and the hardiness of the Manse’s construction, the rest of its power is devoted to multiple Hearthstones that its long-deceased builder thought should be the basis of Solar Circle Sorcery. Each are level 4 Hearthstones that grant access to a single Solar Circle spell - but only to a sorcerer already initiated into the Solar Circle. The Gem of the Daystar grants Light of Solar Cleansing, the Burnt Shadow Gem grants Cleansing Solar Flames, and the Photosynthetic Gem grants Benediction of Archgenesis.


	4. Charms, Spells, and Sorcerous Initiations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wisdom of Luna's Chosen.

The Charms of the No Moon tend toward the mental arena. Finding solutions or knowledge, resolving conflicts of scarcity by producing plenty, memorizing shapes, and so on. Like most Lunar Charms they can still be quite broad, and quite effective. Of particular note for No Moon Lunars are the Charms Terrestrial Circle Sorcery and Celestial Circle Sorcery, which function like the Solar ones on pages 360-361 of Exalted 3e. However, the way Lunars achieve that Charm, and its dark mirrors, Shadowlands Circle Necromancy and Labyrinth Circle Necromancy, are often different from their Solar counterparts. A few such rituals and methods are described here.

Charm Name: Stag’s Horn-locking Contest  
Cost: 1m (+1m per target)  
Minimums: Wits 3, Essence 1  
Type: Simple  
Keywords: Psyche  
Duration: Instant  
Prerequisites: None

Fighting for mates or territory or dominance is natural. Among equals these fights are non-lethal, only inflicting necessary roughness. Death is for hunter and prey.

When a Lunar beats an opponent on a Join Battle roll, they may use this Charm as their first action in the combat. They may take a persuade action against their opponent (+1m per additional opponent, ignoring the penalty for multiple targets) as if the opponent(s) all have a Minor Tie to resolving the disagreement that prompted battle. The persuasion is to fight to first blood or submission (any damage from a decisive attack or a successful Grapple with any number of control rounds) whereby the fight ends and the victor gets to dictate the resolution to the disagreement. This persuade action counts as the Lunar’s combat action, can be flurried, gains bonus dice equal to the differences in their Initiative (or smallest difference, for multiple opponents), and can benefit from Wits in any Excellency used without requiring a stunt. 

However, if they fail to beat the opponent’s Resolve, the target is under no such compulsion, and will fight as long and as ferociously as if the Lunar had not spoken. To compound the failure, the Lunar has squandered her first action advantage. 

If the victor dictates a result that is too one-sided, the loser may choose to battle again, but it costs the loser Willpower equal to the Lunar’s Essence to overcome the knowledge that the rematch will likely end the same way, even if the Lunar is herself the loser. If that Willpower is spent, roll Join Battle again.

Charm Name: All Enemies Anew Prana  
Cost: 5m  
Minimums: Wits 3, Essence 2  
Type: Reflexive  
Keywords: Decisive-only  
Duration: Instant  
Prerequisites: Stag’s Horn-locking Contest 

A Lunar can see the novelty in combat, even after slaying a hundred foes in a day. Each assailant believes they can best the Lunar, each leading a unique life that lead up to that gross misestimation. Once she has dispatched him, she may turn to the next enemy free to contemplate how their attempt to slay her will fall short, unencumbered by the fight that just concluded.

When the Lunar incapacitates a significant enemy or routs or disbands a battlegroup using a decisive attack, she may activate All Enemies Anew Prana to roll Join Battle instead of resetting to base initiative. As a special activation rule, the enemy cannot have used their last action attempting to disengage or withdraw from the Lunar when the decisive attack is made. 

Charm Name: Hands of the Omnicraftsman  
Cost: 20m  
Minimums: Intelligence 3, Essence 1  
Type: Supplemental  
Keywords: Mute  
Duration: Indefinite (special)  
Pre-requisites: None

There are many disciplines of Craft, but the Lunar with this Charm and knowledge of just one may fake them all as easily as she wears a new skin. For the duration of one Craft project, the Lunar may reclassify one of her Craft Abilities to any other Craft Ability. With the aid of this Charm she may transfer her knowledge of earthworks in Craft: Structures to practice the art of jewelcraft in Craft: Jewelry as if her artistic structural accents were simply very small. She may even transfer a mundane Craft Ability’s knowledge to Craft: Essence.

While this Charm is active, the Lunar loses access to the transformed Craft Ability. As she crafts jewelry from a transformed Craft: Structures Ability, she will be an ignorant novice at building even the crudest dwelling, having to rely on her Attributes alone in any such attempt. When transforming a mundane Craft to Craft: Essence, she will need to have some other mundane Craft (or Crafts) to meet the requirements of a superior project.

Charm Name: Knack of the Omnicraftsman  
Cost: 5m  
Minimums: Intelligence 3, Essence 1  
Type: Supplemental  
Keywords: Mute  
Duration: Indefinite (special)  
Prerequisites: None

Knack of the Omnicrafstman allows a small and subtle amount of insight to transfer at the Lunar’s will. For the duration of a Craft project, the Lunar may reclassify one of her Craft Specialty to any other Craft Specialty. A Lunar with this Charm may always bring the long years and familiarity of an old hand to any Craft she attempts, so long as she has that depth of knowledge in any one Craft. The transferred Specialty may even be applied to a Craft about which the Lunar has no knowledge (a rating of 0).

While this Charms is active, the Lunar loses access to the transformed Craft Specialty. 

Charm Name: Mind of the Omnicraftsman  
Cost: -  
Minimums: Intelligence 4, Essence 1  
Type: Permanent  
Keywords: None  
Duration: Permanent  
Pre-requisites: Hands of the Omnicraftsman 

The Lunar may use her Intelligence rating as if it were a Craft Ability when using Hands of the Omnicrafstman. She warps her mind such that she can think of nothing but her project, she is mentally consumed with it, reducing her Intelligence to 0 for all rolls other than her Crafting project for the duration of Hands of the Omnicrafstman. 

The Lunar’s Intelligence Charm Essence limitation remains unchanged. Assuming she knows the Lunar Intelligence Excellency or other Intelligence enhancing Charms may use what Essence she has to mitigate her mental preoccupation. Stunting Intelligence into other Lunar Excellencies similarly raises their Limitation by the Lunar’s unmodified Intelligence rating.

Charm Name: Legion-mind Omnicraftsmen  
Cost: -  
Minimums: Intelligence 4, Essence 1  
Type: Permanent  
Keywords: None  
Duration: Permanent  
Pre-requisites: Hands of the Omnicraftsman

Being able to branch out to a new Craft accommodates the vast majority of projects a Lunar might undertake. But a few grand and intricate projects are interdisciplinary enough to require multiple convincingly faked skills to be conjured. With this Charm, Hands of the Omnicraftsman gains the Stackable keyword, enabling the Lunar to do just that.

Charm Name: Skill of the Omnicraftsman  
Cost: -  
Minimums: Intelligence 5, Essence 2  
Type: Permanent  
Keywords: Obvious  
Duration: Permanent  
Pre-requisites: Mind of the Omnicraftsman, One is Legion Omnicraftsmen

As the Lunar warform combines the best qualities of man and beast while losing none, so does the Lunar craftsman whose skill is enhanced by this Charm. She gains knowledge while losing none, a trickster’s trade and bargain. When using Hands of the Omnicraftsman, she no longer loses access to the transformed Craft Ability or her Intelligence. She simply knows a new Craft Ability given the Essence is paid.

The only cost is subtlety. When taking advantage of Skill of the Omnicraftsman, Hands of the Omnicraftsman loses the Mute keyword and gains the Obvious keyword. Any who see a Lunar work on her project, or hear her speak of it, can sense her mental expansion as it colors her words and actions. She exudes transcendent genius, like a Renaissance woman whose knowledge of the art of creating knows no bounds.

Charm Name: Path’s Grooves Discovered  
Cost: 12m  
Minimums: Intelligence 4, Essence 3  
Type: Simple  
Keywords: Salient  
Duration: Indefinite (special)  
Prerequisites: None

The Lunar who activates this Charm is struck by divine inspiration; the Artifact’s soul is so real to their mind’s eye they could reach out and touch it. The Lunar sees the need for the Artifact they are creating via a superior project laid out before them in perfect detail. They see that work must begin today, and can skip the usual strike of inspiration that lesser projects provide. This Charm fills them with Luna’s insight instead. 

The Lunar may pay for the superior project’s slots or finishing roll costs entirely with debt so long as she has no outstanding xp debt (from this Charm or other sources, this Charm is not Stackable). All xp needed to complete the Artifact, the xp for the superior slot, any needed major slots and the finishing xp rolls may be paid with a single invocation; they do not count as outstanding xp debt even if they are years apart in the case of a 5 dot Artifact. Any gained xp of the relevant type, such as xp from lesser crafting projects, Momentum-type Crafting Charms, or xp bonuses gained from unused intervals at the end of the superior project must immediately go towards paying this debt whenever it is owed, even if the debt-accumulating project enhanced by this Charm is ongoing when another crafting slot finishes. The Lunar must commit the motes to this Charm for at least the duration of the project, but must also maintain the commitment after completion while any debt is outstanding. 

This Charm may be repurchased at Intelligence 6 Essence 6 to be applicable to legendary projects in addition to superior projects. 

Charm Name: Tattoo’s Whorls Discovered  
Cost: -  
Minimums: Intelligence 5, Essence 4  
Type: Permanent  
Keywords: None  
Duration: Permanent  
Pre-requisites: Path’s Grooves Discovered, Terrestrial Circle Sorcery

When invoking Path’s Grooves Discovered while crafting an Artifact during the Sorcerous Working that grants a new Lunar their Moonsilver Tattoos, this Charm calls out not just the Artifact’s need but the path the new Lunar will walk, and grants insight and aid in helping mold the best Artifact onto them. Increase the terminus by 1 and reduce the goal number by the tattooing Lunar’s Essence. Further, while the xp debt is outstanding, every time the tattooed Lunar uses their Artifact in a significant way, like besting a rival, winning a notable ally to their cause, denying their enemy succor from society, or crafting their own Artifact, reduce the xp debt by 1 unit of the least valuable type still outstanding (sxp first, gxp second, wxp last).

Should the Lunar know the repurchase of Path’s Grooves Discovered that allows it to be applied to legendary projects, that repurchase also allows Tattoo’s Whorls Discovered to apply to N/A tattoo Artifacts. 

Charm Name: Protean Gestation of the Artificial Soul  
Cost: 5m  
Minimums: Intelligence 5, Essence 5  
Type: Simple  
Keywords: Salient, Stackable (Lunar’s Essence)  
Duration: Indefinite (special)  
Pre-requisites: Path’s Grooves Discovered

The Lunar is no longer as restricted to the number of changes she may make in spiritual communion with the metal she hopes house the spark the Artifact’s soul as other crafters. She may imbue her project with the flexible nature of her Essence, allowing it to remain in a state of superposition between object and spirit for as long as her Essence can sustain. Mechanically, she may increase the Terminus of her crafting projects by 1 per application of this Charm. The motes are spent after the last finishing roll has been made when too few successes were accrued to meet the goal number, making that roll the penultimate finishing roll instead. The motes are committed through either the completion of the project, the last terminus, or her revoking the motes (revoking immediately causes a failure to light the Artifact’s spirit to life as if she had ran out of terminus earlier). 

Charm Name: Shape of the Shapeshifter  
Cost: 15m  
Minimums: Perception 5, Essence 1  
Type: Simple  
Keywords: Mute, Stackable  
Duration: Indefinite  
Pre-requisites: Keen Touch and Smell Technique

With a touch, the Lunar can memorize the shape of a thing. She could gauge whether a boulder is low enough volume to attempt lifting given a rough idea of its density. She could perfectly tailor clothes to a client by shaking his hand. She could remember a sculpture so perfectly that recreating it is only a limit of skill, not memory, for she has the blueprint available in her mind. All of these are mental actions are unrolled when this Charm has been used on the target.

The Lunar can memorize Essence such shapes with the use of this Charm at a time, but it is stackable should even more shapes be of use at once. After the commitment is dropped the Lunar still has a general knowledge of what the Essence of this Charm burned in her mind, but no longer the sharp exactness it can provide.

No moons in particular favor this Charm for a trickier application. After touching a book, the Lunar can memorize the ink raises on each page within the tome. Colorless but exact, the Lunar can write the book, every letter, given time and materials, even if she has no knowledge of the language in which it is written. She can also mentally read it, but no faster than she could normally read a physical book. 

Charm Name: Cowing the Humble Mouse  
Cost: 10m  
Minimums: Charisma 2, Essence 1  
Type: Supplemental  
Keywords: None  
Duration: Instant  
Prerequisites: None

The Lunar, through stance alone, commands the attention of her target(s), subtly deflects attention from anyone else, and communicates that she would best those who look upon her in a fight. She knows it. They know it. She knows they know it. This supplements an Inspire action, specifically the resulting emotion of feeling outmatched. As with any Inspire action, the resulting actions vary. The target may drop their weapons and supplicate themselves before the Lunar, they may flee, they may threaten the Lunar with reprisal from their friends and allies should they be killed. What they likely won’t do is force the issue by readying their weapons and forcing a Join Battle roll, no matter how insulting or rude the Lunar chooses to be in their presence, or what their commanding officer’s orders are, even weaker Exalts. Reliance on this Charm has been repeatedly cited in Sidereal records of Elder Lunar interference with Wyld Hunts equipped to chase lesser targets, as well as a popular theory in Heaven regarding the origin of the coarseness of Lunar diplomacy. Instances of Dragon-Blooded losing all mortal legionnaire support in an instant rout when they confront an ancient Anathema have been repeatedly noted. Younger Sidereals being completely disrespected when they choose to meet with a powerful Lunar is common. 

Mechanically, the Lunar gains Essence non-Charm successes on the Charisma+Performance social influence Inspire roll. When using this Charm she never suffers from the One Target vs. Many Targets social influence penalty (as normal for Inspire actions) even though she may selectively choose who she is inspiring in a scene. Her targets never gain the Gestures and Body Language Resolve bonus (3e Core page 221).

This Charm has a special activation rule: that the Lunar truly would win a battle all by herself against those she chooses to target with the Charm, taking minimal or no wounds, as decided by the Storyteller. Any attempts that fail this condition (the Storyteller is under no obligation to comment on the success of the Charm’s special activation rule until the attempt is made) still result in rolling to inspire everyone who happens to already be looking at her, though she spends no motes. She could try again on weaker target(s), though she must wait for a later scene (3e page 222, Retrying Social Actions) if there is any overlap between the target(s) of her prior Inspire attempts.

Charm Name: Humble Ant's Intuition  
Cost: 1m, 1wp  
Minimums: Intelligence 1, Essence 1  
Type: Simple  
Keywords: Eclipse  
Duration: Instant  
Prerequisites: None

The Charms of the Celestial Exalted can be so powerful, the applications so epic in scope that predicting their results of their most extreme applications is fruitless. Worse, once such Charms are known, every problem looks like an application for said mystical might. In the spirit of the Winding Path, this Charm and its upgrades were developed to give even the youngest of Lunar pups an alternative to making mortals dependent on solving their problems by turning their awesomely enhanced muscles or sorcery at every problem, so that they never get into the habit of calling their Essence at anything they find not to their liking. Much easier than unlearning it later. ...and to subtly influence Lunars into doing the right thing for their patron's love, Gaia.

When used at a place that is ‘unbalanced’ from Creation’s natural state, the Lunar gains an intuitive understanding of what natural remedy could be applied to bring Creation back into harmony. When near a shadowland, the Lunar remembers seeing just the perfect mortal couple who could enjoy the risqué thrill of being wed at its border, lessening the rift in Creation. When used in the Wyld-tainted parts of Creation such as a Freehold or any Wyld less than Pure Chaos, the Lunar discovers just what natural wonder could be extracted from it, and the merchant or chain or merchants who could create the ripple in the Order Conferring Trade Pattern that could bind that land closer to Creation, lessening the Wyld’s hold. In a volcano too often erupting, the Lunar would discover what Elemental imbalance is responsible, and which Spirit court to address to bring balance back to the Elements. If a Manse has harmful Essence flows from being atop too powerful of a Demesne, the Lunar knows what landscape changes could be made to alter the Dragon-Lines to lessen the Demesnes’ power into a better match. Where Cecelyne’s sands start to overflow into Creation and her attitude of desolation is taking hold, the Lunar knows the cause of that Yozi’s partial slippage through the surrender Oaths, such as ‘a Yozi cult in the area’ or ‘the melancholy of Lypothymie’. When an area is particularly prone to uncompelled demon summoning, such as an island with many green sunsets summoning Ligier more than once every 500 years, or a barely domesticated animal species repeatedly turning on their masters summoning Bisclavarets more than once a year, the Lunar learns the phenomena, the demon it is prone to call forth from Malfeas, and a natural remedy to the problem such as ‘breed a less independent and stubborn line siege lizards’ or ‘restrict Simhata riding to Exalts’.

This Charm does nothing in itself to redress the imbalance. The Lunar can do what she wills with the knowledge she gains, including preventing balance from being restored or enhancing the imbalance by somehow aiding the underlying cause. It gives the Lunar a place to start with natural remedies even mortals could perform that are unlikely to cause more problems than the imbalance being corrected.

Purchasing this Charm again at Intelligence 2, Essence 2, allows the Lunar to expand this intuition to another realm they have visited. Options include but are not limited to the Wyld (learning how it would be best to return anyplace below Pure Chaos back to that perfect state, all the way back to the ideal Time Not espoused by the Church of Balor), Yu-Shan (learning how to harmonize that city into its most perfect form, with the most bountiful and powerful Manses, preventing any prayer delay or quintessence embezzlement), any Yozi world-body such as Autochthon or Malfeas (learning the changes to promote the health of the Yozi and its constituent souls, as well as to prevent or mitigate decay due to any inherent weaknesses such as the Void or the surrender oaths), or the Underworld (Learning how to best to bring Oblivion to the Labyrinth, the Labyrinth to the Shadowlands, and Shadowlands to Creation or other realms to spread the inevitability of death, or even how to best push the Neverborn over the precipice, though that last consists of variations on ‘destroy Creation’). Purchasing again at Intelligence (+1), Essence (+1) from the previous minimums allows the Lunar to add another Realm, limited only by their exposure to so many different realms and the Charm Intelligence/Essence minimums. 

Charm Name: For The Good Of The Earth  
Cost: 5m  
Minimums: Charisma 2, Essence 1  
Type: Supplemental  
Keywords: Eclipse  
Duration: Instant  
Pre-requisites: Humble Ant's Intuition

Lunars, even those with less than silver tongues, can find their eloquence when embracing their Stewardship. Their earnest will to promote the land they treasure is hard to refuse, whether they communicate that will through rhetoric, riches, or fangs.

Once per scene the Lunar may use this Charm to enhance a persuade, bargain, or threaten action attempting to convince a character to enact the natural remedy found through Humble Ant’s Intuition with a full free Excellency and gains double 9’s on the roll. You may use Intelligence in the Lunar Charisma Excellency without a stunt when benefiting from this Charm. 

Charm Name: Songbird’s Refrain  
Cost: 10m  
Minimums: Charisma 3, Essence 1  
Type: Simple  
Keywords: Psyche, Mute, Stackable, Eclipse  
Duration: Indefinite (at least Magnitude days)  
Pre-requisites: Humble Ant's Intuition

A Lunar with the insight from Humble Ant's Intuition may know the natural, mortal way of solving a problem, but not have the time herself to implement it. Obviously, that's where others come in.

Using this Charm subtly alters the natural world into urging a society of people to uphold a certain value. Those affected see that value as one worth both living themselves and teaching to others in their tribe. They are reminded of it in the course of the daily existence by the mundane features around them. If the Lunar is attempting to instill a warrior’s devotion to martial training, at breakfast a member will idly plan when best to practice their chosen martial discipline, at tea they will happen to stumble across their weapon of choice just asking to be used, and walking home from their occupation they will hear a songbird tweeting a military tune. The Lunar does not herself make the argument, Creation does.

This Charm permits an action of influencing or creating a society's values so long as none of the society’s members have Essence greater than the Lunar’s, as if the Lunar had performed an Instill action on the entire group against their [average Resolve+Magnitude], even if she is not there or able to be heard by the group’s members. This grants a measure of anonymity against those without the Charms to investigate the source of the society-wide influence, but also negates any bonuses granted by the Lunar’s Appearance. Success mechanically erodes, creates or strengthens an Intimacy for members of that group. If that value is meant to solve or prevent an imbalance to Creation (or promote some other Realm) that has been discovered by Humble Ant's Intuition, you may use Intelligence in the Lunar Charisma Excellency without a stunt. The Lunar must commit the Charm for a number of days equal to the group’s Magnitude, at which point they may roll to see the results, anything less automatically fails to influence the group. Further, they may keep the motes committed after this roll, rolling again each Magnitude days. While so committed, add the Lunar’s Essence to the difficulty of any attempts to degrade Intimacies created by Songbird’s Refrain in the affected populace as well as granting the Lunar knowledge of any attempts to do so. 

This Charm is stackable up to the Lunar’s Essence (to be distributed towards multiple effects on the same group, or across multiple groups). 

Charm Name: Deafening Vice Discovery  
Cost: 7m  
Minimums: Perception 3, Essence 2  
Type: Supplemental  
Keywords: Eclipse  
Duration: Instant  
Pre-requisites: Songbird’s Refrain

A Lunar attempting to bring balance to Creation or promote her other chosen realm is beset by obstacles on all sides. Greed, lust, tribalism, ignorance, arrogance. The list of vices is neverending. A clever Lunar with this Charm can root out these obstacles. 

Using this Charm to supplement a read intentions action on a member of a group under the effect of the Lunar’s committed Songbird’s Refrain, when successful, grants the Lunar knowledge of a vice Intimacy of the target’s that is in conflict with Songbird’s Refrain, in addition to any other results. If the character is such a paragon of virtue that they have no vices, or all their vices do not impede Songbird’s Refrain, the Lunar learns of a vice they would take to that would conflict with the value they are trying to instill via Songbird’s Refrain if the character were exposed to it.

 **Terrestrial Circle Spell**  
Beastial Transformation  
Cost: 5sm, 1wp  
Keywords: Shaping  
Duration: Sorcerer’s Essence Days

Using the Bestial Transformation spell, a sorcerer can turn a human target, willing or unwilling, into a particular animal so long as they have access to an arcane link to the target. The visual effect is very similar to Lunar shapeshifting - except for the confused look that unwilling subjects often display. Limbs elongate or contract, fur sprouts from skin, legs fuse into tails and so on. The effect lasts for as many nights as the sorcerer has Essence, always ending at the moon’s highest point of the night. A clever sorcerer can cast this spell around the new moon or Calibration to gain a few more days than her Essence would normally allow. After shaping the necessary sorcerous motes (5), the sorcerer rolls Roll Intelligence+Occult vs. a difficulty of the target's Essence. Success produces the transformation effect, failure wastes the sorcerous motes and seriously undermines any threatening affect the sorcerer may have been aiming for.

Once transformed, the now-beast may be recognized reflexively by acquaintances as the human they used to be with a Perception+Occult roll at a difficulty of the threshold successes achieved on the above Intelligence+Occult roll. No threshold successes would result in a beast that is instantly recognizable to their friends and family, but the identity of the transformed is more subtly hidden by skillful sorcerers who cast Beastial Transformation on lowly subjects. 

Beastial Transformation grants one animal shape when a sorcerer first learns it drawn from any type of animal the sorcerer has interacted with for at least a scene. The sorcerer may purchase Bestial Transformation again, up to their Essence in repurchases. Each repurchase grants the sorcerer more animal shapes to choose from than before, up to the square of the total purchases (initial purchase+repurchases), defined either when the sorcerer buys the Charm or during play if they have unnamed beasts. 

If a sorcerer chooses Bestial Transformation as their control spell, they may cast it on themselves from motes in their Essence pools instead of taking shape sorcery actions. Further, again when targeting herself, the sorcerer may forgo the Intelligence+Occult roll, automatically succeeding with her Essence in threshold successes. Lunars of the Second Age rarely take Bestial Transformation as a control spell, due to their moonsilver tattoos negating its Shaping effects.

Distortion (Goal Number: 5): Another sorcerer, being yapped at by a dog that looks vaguely like their companion, may recognize the effect of Beastial Transformation and attempt to distort it. Success reverts the human back to their normal shape for a scene, but leaves an obvious tell on their person during that scene - they may still have a dog’s ears or tail, for example.

 **Celestial Circle Spell**  
Gaia’s Memory  
Cost: 25sm, 2wp  
Keywords: Shaping  
Duration: Permanent

Creation feels the ebb and flow of the Wyld about her edges. But sometimes, when and where the Fae have been meddling, the flow does not ebb and Creation loses some of itself to that vast sea. The corruption has phases, from Creation that has not felt any permanent touch of the Wyld, to the tainted lands, to the Bordermarches, to the Middlemarches, to the Deep Wyld and finally there is Pure Chaos that never was a part of Creation to begin with.

Sorcerer’s who know Gaia’s memory can reassert that permanence hiding below the outward entropy, ebbing the Wyld away from the land so long as that land is not Pure Chaos and has a sliver of Creation to remember, however distant in time or possibility. Casting this spell reduces the level of the Wyld in a waypoint or tainted land one category towards Creation. The effects are instantaneous, but usually subtle. The Bordermarches being reasserted from the Middlemarches may change from trees that float across the land hanging from floating fish bladder flowers to a gradual settling on the ground and laying root in the soil, but still growing floating bladders that are lighter than air and blow in the wind at the ends of their branches. 

This spell cannot make land wholesale from the Wyld - that requires Solar expertise. The sorcerer simply weaves her Essence to strengthen the memory of what once was, waking the sleeping Creation beneath the Wyld’s dreams of whimsy unchained from reality’s laws.

Should the sorcerer choose Gaia’s Memory as her control spell, she is forever grounded to that Primordial’s Essence. She gains her Essence in successes towards resisting any Wyld influence or Shaping effect. Lunars, even those whose bodies are now protected by the Moonsilver Tattoos, have disproportionately claimed Gaia’s Memory as a control spell for the mental protection it provides them in their long wandering through Wyld lands.

Distortion (Goal Number: 15): Should a sorcerer be curious what the land was like before being reclaimed, they may attempt to have the land forget, go to sleep, slipping back to dreaming Wyld dreams. Success reverts the land back to the form of it’s old waypoint or tainted land for months equal to the distorting sorcerer’s Essence, often having warping, devastating effects on any permanent structures built there. 

**Shadowlands Circle Spell**  
Trapping the Simple Soul  
Cost: 10sm, 1wp  
Keywords: Shaping  
Duration: Permanent

Normally, beasts do not leave ghosts. Their souls are simpler than humanity's, ata-beasts excluded. This spell allows a sorcerer to trap the soul of a beast in the underworld when cast over a beast’s corpse that has never seen daylight.

Once created, the beast loses all of its intimacies, save one that the necromancer imposes: I will obey my master (Defining). These beasts are hollow shades of their former selves, verging on automata in personality, because they do not retain the natures they knew in their lives. The beast’s ghost does not care to eat or hunt or mate any longer - that part of its life has passed, and its unlife is spoken for.

Beastial ghosts suffer all the regular disadvantages and gain the regular advantages of mortal ghosts (See Compass of Celestial Directions, Volume 4: The Underworld). They are familiars in every other way, save that they lack the companionship that living familiars usually provide. Like familiars and Charms, they do not learn Arconai unless some effects grants them that knowledge.

A necromancer that takes Trapping the Simple Soul as their control spell may cast it for free at the moment they personally land the killing blow on a beast, day or night.

 **Initiations and Shaping Rituals**  
_Nature’s Enlightenment, the Salinian Working’s sorcerous Initiation_  
By observing nature and its natural flow of Essence as it creates and destroys, lives and breathes, you have tapped into a great sorcerous working from the First Age that grants a path to sorcerous power. After five ordeals, the station of humility, the station of tutelage, the station of journey, the station of fear, and the station of sacrifice you either became a sorcerer or enhanced your sorcerous understanding. 

Shaping Rituals:  
The Salinian Working emphasizes the Five Ordeals, though only the ordeal of sacrifice is common with other sorcerous Initiation methods. Each ordeal is required in the Salinian Initiation, but sorcerers may draw sorcerous motes from repeating the actions that granted them sorcerous enlightenment in the first place. Each maximum is separate, combined a total of 25 sorcerous motes can be reserved to empower her future shaping rituals. 

In the station of humility, the sorcerer learns to appreciate magic not for what it can do for her, but for its own sake. Any scene spent appreciating the natural world, how sorcery has shaped it to this ‘natural’ state, or reading occult lore with no particular objective other than to remedy the holes in her own knowledge grants the sorcerer 1 sorcerous mote, to a maximum of 5.

In the station of tutelage, the sorcerer mirrors Salina’s gift to the world. Any scene in which the sorcerer teaches another denizen of Creation about sorcery in particular or the occult in general grants her 1 sorcerous mote, to a maximum of 5.

In the station of journey, the sorcerer travels Creation’s great expanse, the better to know and love it. Any scene where the sorcerer arrives to a place she has not been before grants her 1 sorcerous mote, to a maximum of 5. These places can be physically new, such as when she first steps into ‘the city of Nexus’ or metaphysically new, such as ‘the city of Nexus’ even if she had been to its predecessor, ‘the city of Hollow’ (which became Nexus). 

In the station of fear, she confronts that which would thwart her will. Any scene where the sorcerer steps beyond the boundaries that she considers safe grants her 1 sorcerous mote, to a maximum of 5. The sorcerer may be doing something objectively safe but subjectively terrifying, such as confronting her mother, or could be doing something truly suicidal, like a mortal sorcerer ordering one of her bound demons to fight her to the death while she is stark naked. It is the sorcerer’s perception of the lack of safety of the action that matters, not its actual risk. That said, many sorcerers who regularly journey through the station of fear gain a very large comfort zone and must push the boundaries farther and farther to repeat the journey - or die trying.

In the station of sacrifice, the sorcerer gives up something dear to her. Any such loss, which much be deliberate and from her own actions, not those of any other, grants 1 sorcerous mote, up to a maximum of 5. These things can be physical, such as her laboratory for Artifice, or they can be metaphysical, such as her love for a specific person, place, or thing.

Other Benefits:  
A Full Journey (Merit 1) - Each time all five stations are journeyed, the sorcerer with this Merit gains an additional (sixth) sorcerous mote that she may attribute towards any of the station’s maximums. 

Creation’s Spellbook (Merit 3) - Any day that the sorcerer spends at least 8 hours observing the natural world counts as time spent training under a mentor for any sorcerous spell from any Circle that has been cast in Creation’s past (reducing the training time by a total 2 days each day spent training, effectively halving the training time if used every day). Each casting leaves an echo that reverberates through Creation’s Essence patterns, and those who are in tune with the Salinian Working can follow those ripples back to the source, reverse-engineering the spell in question. 

Unbounded Ambition (Merit 5) - A lesson that can be drawn from careful study of the Salinian Working is that nearly anything is possible with sorcery. Sorcerers with the Unbounded Ambition Merit take this to heart, encouraged by the audacity of Salina’s ancient project. When attempting any sorcerous working, the sorcerer with this Merit gains dice equal to the Ambition of the working, and if she is going Beyond the Boundaries she also adds dice equal to the Circle of the working. Further, she gains the ability to attempt Ambition 3 Solar workings even if she is only of the Terrestrial Circle - no feat is too grand for her imagination, no matter how humble she is at present. 

**Touched Beyond Death, the Black Nadir Concordant’s necromantic Initiation**  
You have braved the Labyrinth through to the very precipice of the Void where the tombs of the Neverborn tilt over that place and state of existential nothingness but are never consumed by it. Summoning your courage you placed your hand on the dead and rotting architecture of one of their broken world-bodies, and felt what it meant to be unliving, yet having no laws written for your cycle of reincarnation. A sacrifice was whispered to you, and you paid it, walking away with power over the dead… and perhaps a few other marks on your soul.

Sidebar: Unlike sorcerous Initiations which have Merits that are purchasable alongside them, necromantic Initiations have Flaws. Necromancy is a power drawn from decay and death, not construction and life. Like sorcerous Merits, a necromancer may choose to take none, some, or all of the associated Flaws. Unlike Merits, just like normal Flaws, she does not pay any experience for them, and they grant experience to her when they significantly inconvenience or harm her (Exalted 3e page 167). 

Shaping Rituals:  
Necromancers who journey through the Underworld and Labyrinth to the precipice of the Void may forever benefit from their mystical connection to their journey through those places.

For each day the necromancer spends in a shadowland, they gain 1 sorcerous mote, up to a limit of the Shadowlands Circle necromantic spells they know. These motes may only be spent on necromantic spells of the Shadowlands Circle. Bringing the knowledge of the Void’s most black of arts to Creation hastens the final end to the Neverborn, and they grant the Necromancer these motes directly from their own pools. 

For each night the necromancer spends in the Labyrinth, they gain 1 sorcerous mote, up to a limit of their Essence, which may be spent on any circle of necromancy. That dark place resonates with the necromancer’s tainted soul, buoying it up with its abundant Essence of death.

Finally, each time they look upon the precipice of the Void, usually from Stygia’s safe distance, they may roll their Perception+Occult, gaining sorcerous motes equal to the successes. The visions they see, stolen from beyond the event horizon of Oblivion’s center, grant them insight into their next necromantic spell of any circle. Only one such vision may be kept; looking again releases all the sorcerous motes from the previous observation.

Other ‘Benefits’:  
Cannot Achieve Death (Flaw, Minor) - Just like the Neverborn who facilitated your necromantic initiation, you cannot die, even if you seek its release, so long as it is within your power to do so. Whenever your Incapacitated health level(s) would be filled with lethal or aggravated damage, you must take a crippling injury instead (Exalted 3e page 201). This escapes the limit of having to take multiple levels of damage and the once per story limit. Necromancers with this flaw either quickly gain others to match it, avoid combat, become miraculous healers, or master a combat style that prevents them from taking so much damage in the first place.

Whispers (Flaw, Major) - The Neverborn whose body you touched whispered the sacrifice required to gain your necromantic power, but that was just the beginning of their dream-speak directly into your mind. Worse yet, they no longer simply whisper, at times they shout or command, or babble incoherently. Every scene in which you interact with at least one Exalted or a god, the beings who conspired to slay your undead benefactor, you are subject to a social attack that uses any relevant Intimacy of the necromancer’s that the Neverborn can grasp to make a 10 dice social attack to either Persuade the necromancer to kill one of them, Instill the Principle “[This Exalt or god] must die, and quickly”, or to Inspire a killing passion within the necromancer. Many necromancers with this Flaw either devolve into death-loving agents of the Neverborn, intensely dispassionate and disconnected people, or develop impressive mental fortitude.

Sunscorched (Flaw, Defining) - Your understanding of ghostly nature and the magic that animates them has boiled over into your very skin. The sun, when it strikes you, attempts to burn away your body, leaving only your soul. Unlike the incorporeal ghosts who experience this as banishment from the material world (see Rolls of Glorious Divinity Volume II page 103), you have an actual body that protests being burned off like morning mist. For each hour you spend out of doors in direct sunlight, you take one level of lethal damage. When fully covered in hat, mask, and other clothing, you reduce this damage to bashing. If indoors, under cloud cover, or being carried around in a fully-concealed box-palanquin during the day, you may pay either 5 motes or 1 willpower to prevent one instance of this damage.


End file.
